Heat is a single common by-product of today’s manufacturing machines that include the advanced automation technology required for both high speed operation and high precision. To keep these processes running, Industrial Cooling is critical. When ambient conditions are at their worst liquid cooling is an ideal efficient solution.

The Challenge…

One of our machine tool customers needed a customized solution adapted to their customer’s environment allowing their industrial electronics to operate at optimal efficiency. Industrial cooling was needed for a grinding machine requiring cooling control accuracy. This is especially important as it significantly influences the grinding tolerance. The machine sands parts to remove all irregularities before sending them off for further assembly (gear manufacturing), the required control accuracy or hysteresis is up to +- 0.1 K in active units and up to +- 0.5 K in passive units.

The goal was to cool the machine with available water using a passive enclosure cooling unit at a flow temperature of 22°C. The main requirement for this project was that the water from the return flow (returning to the water ring) had to be at least 9°C warmer to match the customer’s own energy efficiency requirements.

The Solution…

After an analysis of their needs, Pfannenberg’s PWW Water to Water Heat Exchangers appeared to be the best solution. Our water-cooled solutions are designed with durable components to ensure the effectiveness and longevity of the critical cooling process at hand.

We installed our new passive PWW 6000 into our compatible EB 60 WT Chiller housing which is extremely flexible. Passive water cooling makes sense if the flow temperatures are not too low and if a water circuit is available. This solution works reliably at a temperature difference of more than 5°C between the water circuit and the chiller.

To support this new solution for our customer, Pfannenberg provided 2-days of on-site training bringing “live initial operations” online.

Thanks to the success of this installation, our customer secured 10 more projects using our PWW Water to Water Heat Exchangers with one in China.

Click here to get more information abour our PWW Water to Water Heat Exchangers.

Pfannenberg’s North American headquarters are based in Lancaster, NY but the company serves customers around the globe with plants in Germany, Italy, China and recently Brazil.

Our internal company motto is “Sharing Competence” which allows worldwide teams to work together for a better understanding of our customers, providing dedicated service and solutions for projects globally.“This is the basis for our culture of innovation. We work closely with our internal teams, suppliers and customers to share information, developing an internal company know-how,” said Blaine Witt, Chief Sales Officer. “This process allows us to develop products and solutions based on what the market really demands.”

This strategy has not only contributed to receiving recognition as one of “Western New York’s Fastest Growing Companies” for 2015 but also to global recognition as a recipient of a “Red Dot Award” award, won for our PYRA-MA Flashing Sounder.

Having manufacturing centers worldwide “allows our teams to work together to support the customer’s needs on every continent,” Witt said. “Looking forward, as technology evolves, our innovation will allow us to build new products that are intelligent and able to communicate with other systems.”

Micro-Channel cooling is a proven cooling technology that has been used in the Automotive and HVAC industry for over 25 years. Pfannenberg was the first company to introduce micro-channel condenser technology to the industrial process and electrical enclosure cooling industry.

Pfannenberg’s DTS range of Cooling Units offer a smaller footprint, improved heat transfer efficiency while also providing an environmentally friendly solution by using 50% less refrigerant than standard coils!

Greater Efficiency

The micro-channel condenser coils utilize an ultra-efficient design providing up to 40% more heat rejection thanks to multiple channels
within the tube and a brazed joint between the tube and fin. This improves the transfer of heat from the refrigerant into the ambient air.

Single Row, Less Clogging & Fouling

The single row air flow path of the micro-channel condenser allows for a condenser air flow path that clogs less and is significantly easier to clean during general maintenance.

Corrosion Resistant & Less Weight

Increased Durability

The Cooling Units design provides for a condenser coil that is harder to damage during transit and general handling of the cooling unit. Fin combing is not required to maintain proper airflow channels.

Cost Effective Design

Machine production of the condenser and the reduced material cost of using aluminum vs copper tubing creates a significant savings over conventional copper tube and fin designs.

Uses 50% Less Refrigerant

In an age where many companies are required to account for and pay fees based on refrigerant usage, having a system that provides the same cooling capacity using 50% less refrigerant is a life saver for plant managers.

Under construction for 15 years, the 35 mile long Gotthard tunnel located in Switzerland is due to open in 2016.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel impresses with many outstanding features:

It is the longest railway tunnel in the world at 57 km and its tunnel run, with all the transverse and connection tunnels, stretches over 154 km.

From 2016, passenger trains should have a top speed of 250 km/h, reducing the travelling time e.g. between Milan and Zurich to under 3 hours and should almost double the haulage capacity on the Swiss North-South Axis to 40 m tons of goods.

Operating a tunnel poses a huge challenge for engineers and operators. All products and solutions have to meet the highest requirements and have to work perfectly even under harsh ambient conditions. In particular, this applies to electrical enclosures and their thermal management, which are subject to extreme alternating pressure loads, temperature differences and are also exposed to dust and moisture.

In close collaboration, Swibox and Pfannenberg have developed a special climate control concept for tunnel applications. Robust Swibox electrical enclosures with a pressure body which was developed especially to protect the cooling circuit and the side mounted cooling units with integrated controller and heater from Pfannenberg guarantee a high system uptime which are situated, in the 176 cross passages amongst other places.

These electrical enclosure cooling units ensure that the thermal pressure of the electronic components integrated inside the electrical enclosures does not become too high and that they work safely and reliably throughout their whole service lives.

Electrical enclosures withstand every alternating pressure

The largest technical challenges were the high requirements to the system of protection of the electrical enclosure, IP65, and also the high alternating pressure load which is caused by the trains passing through. When entering the tunnel, the train pushes the air ahead of it, causing overpressure until the train passes by the cross passage where the electrical enclosures are standing. As soon as the train has passed, the overpressure transforms suddenly to a corresponding under-pressure.

All the electrical enclosures and the installed cooling units are exposed to the load of this alternating pressure of up to +/- 5 kPa. It had to be ensured that all devices can withstand this alternating pressure mechanically, simultaneously implementing the high system of protection.

It was possible to meet these requirements, thanks to the mechanical unit custom construction developed especially in cooperation with the company Swibox. This construction ensures a leak-proof separation of the surrounding (outer wall of the unit) and the inside of the electrical enclosure (unit inside), also under pressure load. A special feature here is the developed pressure body inside which the components of the inner cooling circuit are housed. Therefore, it was not enough to use reinforced sheet metal: the selection of a suitable material and the increased material thickness in combination with specially installed stiffening plates led to the desired compressive strength.

Climate control concept of electrical enclosures does not only mean cooling

Another challenge in tunnels is the ambient air. Large temperature differences ranging from -20 °C to +40 °C, maximum humidity of 100%, and ferrous abrasion of brakes, rails and contact lines in the ambient air increase the risk of corrosion and show how different a tunnel application is compared to standard applications.

Therefore, a special enclosure climate control concept had to be established for specifically this application. In addition to the cooling units, which are predominantly used inside the mountains (ambient temperatures up to +40 °C), Pfannenberg heaters also had to be installed in the portal sector (ambient temperatures to -20 °C). These heaters ensure that the temperature inside electrical enclosures does not fall below the so-called dew-point (the temperature that moist air has to drop to – by unchanged pressure – so that the amount of water dissolved in the air is precipitated as condensate). At the dew-point, the relative humidity is 100%; that means that the air is saturated with water vapour.

Pfannenberg’s new generation of controllers, designed especially for this project, were also installed. This is especially important to prevent unplanned failures and downtime and, by planning maintenance works in advance, to guarantee a high level of system uptime. The controllers are not only used directly inside the cooling units. The climate controller was also integrated into 500 other electrical enclosures without a cooling unit. This makes a temperature monitoring system possible, which, like the climate control units, can communicate with the tunnel control system and, if necessary, can be replaced with such, without having to reinstall the data transfer.

In 2010 the first cooling units were delivered to the company Swibox. In the meantime, all units have been delivered and will be installed one by one, together with the electrical enclosures, in the 176 cross passages of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. They have already been able to prove their reliability every day, as the various test phases started a while ago and will continue until the start of the scheduled railway operation on 2016.

Pfannenberg designs versatile packaged chillers which are ideal for applications that have cooling requirements of less that a half a ton up to 30 tons. All chillers are shipped as factory packaged systems requiring only field power and piping to provide recirculated chilled coolant to virtually any process. Pfannenberg’s new CC Chillers are ideal for quick setup and trouble free operation.

Today October 3, 2014 marks National Manufacturing day. This is a day for manufacturers to support young people pursuing careers in manufacturing and engineering. This past week Pfannenberg exhibited at WEFTEC which is a show that focuses on products and services targeting the Water Industry. As I walked the mile long exhibit floor it was amazing to see the number of manufacturers exhibiting innovative products that were developed and manufactured here in the USA. My hope is that here in America we continue this innovation and manufacturing traditions. As manufacturers we have to inspire young people and make them aware of the types of jobs that are available in science, math, technology and engineering.

Pfannenberg is proud to support an organization that promotes this initiative locally, Dream It Do It WNY. Dream It Do ItWNY, works with local manufacturers to open their plant doors to showcase their exciting and modern manufacturing plants and inform participants of the many excellent careers that are available in manufacturing. Their message is simple: “Whatever energizes young people — be it cars or computers, music or movies, outdoors or outer space — they can find a great career doing it in today’s manufacturing.”

Water is the most efficient form of heat removal. Using an air to water heat exchanger allows you to safely cool your electronics using water, while also keeping external contaminants from entering your enclosure. Air to water heat exchangers also offer the advantage of being low maintenance while using significantly less energy than traditional methods.

Understanding the proper thermal management of your electrical enclosures is critical in keeping your production process up and running. Trouble-free production is only guaranteed if the sensitive climate inside your electrical enclosures is maintained, even the slightest overheating of the electronic component units can result in serious consequences such as production downtime and premature aging of parts. It’s important that you choose the proper enclosure cooling

Choosing the Best Solution for Enclosures and Electronics Cooling:

Before choosing the best cooling solution you need to know your environment. Is the control cabinet placement in an environment where the air is full of dust or oil? Is the equipment to be cooled exposed to the weather, i.e. moisture and sunshine? How large are the designated dimensions of the required cooling units? Once these questions have been clarified completely, you can move on to choosing the best cooling solution for your application.

Lancaster, NY, May 13, 2013- Pfannenberg, Inc. introduces a new line of air to water heat exchangers designed to meet the unique requirements of industrial enclosure cooling applications. Our new PWS 3000 Series Air to Water Heat Exchangers offer a complete solution for recirculating water cooling systems for control enclosures especially under harsh conditions. With cooling capacities ranging from 2,218 BTU (650 W) to 34,121 BTU (10,000 W) these units are specifically engineered to allow safe, efficient use of liquid coolant to cool enclosure electronics. Additionally our sloped horizontal cover surfaces and optional NEMA Type 4X stainless steel type rating make the PWS 3000 series perfect for wash-down applications.

About Pfannenberg, Inc.

Pfannenberg, Inc. is a global manufacturer of thermal management, water cooling solutions and signaling technologies. Pfannenberg’s enclosure thermal management products help some of the largest companies worldwide stay cool and safe, protecting and keeping electronic equipment running to avoid costly downtime. In addition to our thermal management products Pfannenberg also manufactures visual and audible signaling devices for security, fire, building, industrial process, disaster warning, hazardous areas, light art and illumination. Pfannenberg is proud to provide solutions as a single source to its customers. Our business philosophy – Safety for man, machine and the environment

/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AirtoWater_11.jpg272284Sue Kuhn/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/logo_retina1.pngSue Kuhn2013-05-13 09:59:062017-11-27 21:47:10Pfannenberg New PWS 3000 Series Air to Water Heat Exchangers

Hamburg, December 2012 – The tallest Christmas tree in Paris, which stands at 35 metres high, has been shining at the Place de la Concorde since the 6th December.

Equipped and illuminated with Pfannenberg 52 Quadro F12 flashing lights and inaugurated in an official opening ceremony by Paris’ mayor, Betrand Delanoë, the extraordinary light spectacle can be admired by inhabitants and visitors for a whole month longer.

Once again, Pfannenberg has proven that it is a competent partner in terms of art illuminations. As early as 2003, 20,000 Pfannenberg flashlights put the Paris landmark, the Eiffel Tower spectacularly in the limelight. Pfannenberg as a Hamburg company it was an absolute must to illuminate the Hamburg City Hall in 2004. And in 2008 9,500 flashing lights illuminated the Trinity Bridge, the television tower and the summer night sky in St. Petersburg.The French company SAF MAGNUM was commissioned by the City of Paris and is thus responsible for the Parisian Christmas Tree illuminations. The company is, amongst other things, a specialist for the illumination of events. Whilst searching for a manufacturer of flashing light circuit boards, SAF MAGNUM encountered the Quadro flashing light used in the Parisian Eiffel Tower which was produced by Pfannenberg. SAF MAGNUM then used this to build a prototype for the Paris Christmas tree.

For the flashing lights on the Christmas tree the circuit boards of the flashing light Quadro F12 were built into a plastic ball with a diameter of 50 cm. The ball is then, in addition, illuminated permanently from the inside by 12 red high-performance LEDs. The red permanent glow of the balls is made to sparkle by the Pfannenberg flash circuit board by means of a white flash once every second. This light generates 13 joules flash energy, 140 candela light intensity and an internal random generator creates a unique champagne pearl effect.